Sparklings: Caution and Exploration
by Water-smurf
Summary: Wheeljack isn't always the most responsible parent, much to his bonded's annoyance. And Sprite and Bolt aren't always the most careful, much to their parents' horror. Part of the Sparklings Series.


A/N: This is basically two stories/drabbles put together because I thought they were too short alone. This is basically a bunch of family fluff with the occasional romance mixed in. I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Mild slash and mischevious kids.

* * *

"Wheeljack, please tell me that I am not going to see our children get caught in an explosion of their own making," Perceptor moaned, slapping a hand to his optics.

Wheeljack looked up from the diligently working Sprite and Bolt and grinned. "Aw, don't worry so much, Percy. I'm making sure that it won't blow up in their face."

"You're showing them how to build a low-power bomb."

"It's good to know! Besides, I'm not filling it with gunpowder or anything. And I'm not feeding it any gas. It'll be fine."

"Wheeljack, whenever you say that, an explosion almost inevitably occurs."

"It's really cool, Daddy!" Sprite said cheerfully, looking up. "If you gave this thing enough hydrogen, then added a dash of radium, it could level the whole Decepticon base!"

"That's how you make a high-level bomb, but it would also happen to level the ocean that the Decepticons inhabit. Wheeljack, did you honestly inform them how to make a bomb like that?" Perceptor said, crossing his arms and narrowing his optics.

Wheeljack threw up his hands. "I swear I didn't! They figured it out on their own!"

"It's really quite simple," Bolt said, glancing up. "The radium would react with the hydrogen, and with the heat that the bomb itself gives off, it would cause a huge explosion."

Wheeljack shrugged and grinned. "They're our kids. What can I say?"

Perceptor buried his face in his hands and moaned softly. "Don't Sideswipe and Sunstreaker corrupt them enough without you adding to it?"

Wheeljack just laughed and wrapped an arm around Perceptor's waist, nuzzling the scientist's neck. "You wound me, Percy. I'd _never_ corrupt our kids." He took off his mask and playfully kissed his friend's cheek.

"Ewww… parents kissing…" Sprite said, wincing. Bolt blushed and shrunk a little in his seat, transfixed at the scene in front of him.

Both Perceptor and Wheeljack looked at them with amused smiles. "That wasn't so bad. How about this?"

Wheeljack tilted Perceptor's head slightly and kissed him full on the lips. Sprite shrieked and scrambled up, scurrying out of the room with Bolt at her heels. Wheeljack chuckled and withdrew from the scientist.

"Well, now we know how to get them to clear the room," he said cheerfully. Perceptor rolled his optics amusedly and walked up to the table his sparklings had just been working at. Picking up one of the completed bombs, he examined it for a moment.

"Next time you have our children working on an explosive, Wheeljack, make sure it's disarmed."

* * *

"Are you guys sure we're allowed to do this?" Bolt asked, climbing up the mountain after Sprite and Cast Off.

"No one ever told us we can't, so we can!" Sprite said, pawing for a foothold in the rock and slipping her foot on firm-feeling stone.

"That's some bad logic, there," Bolt muttered.

"Come on, Bo'. They don't expect us to just stick around the base all the time," Cast Off called from higher up the mountain.

"There's a difference between going outside to play and walking miles and miles away from the base and rock-climbing up an incredibly steep mountain, which, I may add, is easy to fall off of and get dashed on disturbingly sharp rocks below, just to swim in a mountain lake with an undetermined amount of safety hazards," Bolt said, gripping another rock and pulling himself up.

"You've spent way too much time with Father Perceptor," Sprite said, rolling her optics. "You sound so much like Daddy that it's not even funny."

"It's not my fault that I'm his son! You should start acting a little more like his daughter and stop running recklessly into things that could be dangerous!" Bolt said, finding another rock and struggling up a couple more feet.

"You only live once," Sprite said, flashing a grin and winking.

"And you're making your 'once' unbelievably short."

"Live a little, Bo'!" Cast Off shouted from too high up.

"And if we get in trouble, I'm blaming YOU first for putting this idea in Sprite's head!" Bolt said crossly, watching Sprite scramble over the lip of the mountain.

"Stop being such a sissy. I'll help you up."

Bolt grabbed his sister's silver hand, gripping her bright green arm as she pulled him up. He stumbled onto the flat top of the mountain, almost falling on top of his twin.

He glanced up at the plateau, taking it in. Lush grass grew from the ground as well as healthy-looking trees. The air was a little misty; they were so high up that some thin clouds were at level with them. Partially surrounded by trees, there was a large body of crystal-clear water shimmering in the dim blue-fog-tinted light.

"Niiiiiiiiiiice…" Sprite said, putting her hands on her hips, bobbing her head and whistling appreciatively.

"Yeah. I really like this place," Cast Off said. "It's hard to get to, you gotta move around a lot, but there's a lot of room to run or swim free."

"I see," Sprite said, grinning. "Hey, you want to test the water?"

"You know it!"

Bolt didn't even bother protesting when Sprite snatched his hand and started running to the water. Cast Off was just in front of them, and with a graceful swan dive, he was in the water. Sprite gave an equally graceful dive, and Bolt gave a stumble as he was pulled in.

Everything was muted. Water came up and filled Bolt's audios, making them pop slightly. Everything was blue, and he could see silvery fish darting away from the intruder. He saw Cast Off take to the water immediately, doing little underwater twirls and tricks that Bolt had only seen Rosemist do.

A flash of green told Bolt that his sister was swimming in a school of the fish. The light reflected from their scales made her look silver herself. The fish scattered, and the effect was destroyed.

Bolt swam up to the surface, taking in a blast of air through his vents as soon as he broke the water. He treaded on the surface for a moment, glancing around the isolated plateau. He had a bad feeling about this.

He dove down again, intent on finding his sister and cousin, and he could hear the sound of water moving deeper down. He glanced down, and saw a gaping pit at the center.

Damn it. Of course. Of course Cast Off and Sprite would choose that way-too-deep lake.

Bolt swam to the hole, not hesitating before swimming inside. The sound of moving water below spiked… then stopped. What?

The sparkling felt his pump beat faster in fear and swam deeper into the pit. _Sprite? Where are you?_

Silence. Sprite wasn't answering over their bond.

Bolt swam faster, adjusting his optics for the darkness. Not fast enough.

He felt his legs get tangled in seaweed. He panicked, trying to tug away from the underwater plants, but he felt his arms getting caught too. Warnings started sounding in his audios, screaming a need for air, and he glanced around for something to help him.

Oh damn. Sprite and Cast Off were both wrapped up in the seaweed and they… weren't moving. Please say that they're still alive. Please, Primus.

His parents. Maybe… maybe his parents would help….

_MOM! DAD!_

Did he say it more than once? He wasn't sure anymore. Maybe…

While he thought about how to finish that thought, darkness engulfed him.

---

Bolt felt someone slap him.

"Wake up! Wake up, damn it! I didn't give you permission to die!"

Someone was crying. It was very quiet, but it was there.

Bolt felt someone slap him again. Okay, now that was starting to get painful.

"D-Don't h-hurt him, Ratchet…" Bolt heard the softly crying one say. Wait, Father Perceptor? Mom?

Ratchet didn't pay attention to the quiet plea and slapped his son again. Bolt started to make a strangled sound through his vents and he slowly curled up into a ball, cracking open an optic. "Stop slapping me, please?"

Ratchet snatched up his son by the shoulders and shook him, Bolt noticing his creator's optics edged red with nearly undetectable tear stains on his cheek. "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, DAMN IT!"

Bolt's head lolled back slightly. "What…?"

"Ratchet, Sprite's not waking up!"

Ratchet looked up in panic and hugged Bolt close, nearly cutting off his son's airways, and looked at Wheeljack. Bolt turned his head and saw his engineer creator cradling the inert form of his sister in his arms.

"Sprite…?" Bolt mumbled, his optics blinking slowly.

"Try draining her intakes. Maybe she still has water in her vents!" Perceptor said desperately.

Wheeljack gently laid his daughter on the ground and flipped the covering over a tube in his side off. Without missing a beat, he attached it to his daughter's side and there was the sound of rushing exchanged air.

There was a loud whoosh of the breath held by everyone leaving from their captors when Sprite started to intake air through her vents again. Wheeljack detached the tube and stowed it back in his side, almost crying with relief. He took his mask away and kissed his daughter's forehead gently, hugging her limp body briefly before letting her lie down on the ground again.

Sprite curled up and opened her optics, squinting at the sunlight. "Five more minutes…"

Bolt looked up at Ratchet, and noticed that his expression was a cross between relief and overwhelming fury. The male sparkling knew what came next, and he winced in preparation for his twin.

Ratchet shifted Bolt to one arm and roughly grabbed Sprite's antenna-like ear with the other, yanking her up by her sensitive audio. Sprite let out a cry of pain, only to let out a bigger one when Ratchet slapped her soundly on her face.

"PRIMUS DAMN IT, SPRITE! DO YOU _WANT_ TO GIVE US ALL SPARK ATTACKS?! OR DO YOU ENJOY NEARLY DYING?!" He shook her roughly by her audio, and she let out another cry.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Sprite whimpered, her hands going up to her audio.

"Ratchet, stop. You're hurting her," Perceptor said, wiping away coolant tears from his cheeks.

Ratchet abruptly dropped her audio, sending his daughter falling to the ground in a heap, and just as quickly, he wrapped his arm around her and nearly crushed both of his children in a suffocating hug. "Don't scare me like that."

He placed a kiss on both of their helms and squeezed them a little tighter. He let them go and shook his head. "You are in so much trouble when we get home."

Sprite looked a little disorientated at the medic's rapid mood swing, and was about to comment when she found both her and her brother swept up in her mother-creator's arms and felt kisses being showered on their faces and helms.

"Cast Off?" Sprite choked out in-between kisses.

"I'm here!"

Bolt managed to catch a glance of his cousin held in an orange mech's arms, the mech holding his sparkling like he would never let him go again. Well, Bolt supposed, Cast Off probably hadn't thought of asking his parents for help over the barely-noticeable familial bond all of the sparklings had with their parents. Cosmos was probably on a mission and Beachcomber was probably with Rosemist somewhere, so Seaspray was the only one at the Ark. Bolt's creators had probably told him that their sparklings were in trouble and the Marine Officer went with them.

Perceptor started trembling around his children, and the two sparklings realized that he was crying.

"Aww, Daddy. We're fine…" Sprite said guiltily. Perceptor simply answered with another kiss on her cheek.

"It doesn't change the fact that you were very close to not being so," he murmured. Sprite and Bolt lapsed into a guilty silence, huddling close to their mother-creator.

"Sorry, Dad," Bolt murmured.

Sprite's audio twitched. "I want to go home."

"Then we shall, Starshine. We shall."

A/N

You guys may think that there was OOCness in there, but I was just doing my best to write the guys as parents. Kids turns the most distant people into affectionate piles of mush. -grins- At any rate, this is part of the Sparklings series, and if you have any questions or comments, kindly leave them in a review. Hope this was a nice little fluff fix-up.


End file.
